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MLC officially decouples from NAB

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By InvestorDaily team
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3 minute read

Insignia Financial has reached a “significant milestone” in the separation of MLC Wealth from National Australia Bank (NAB), marking a major advancement in its simplification program following the acquisition of MLC in 2021.

The transition of the MLC MasterKey and Plum registries, along with associated applications, from NAB to Insignia Financial is one of the largest wealth management separations in Australia’s financial services history, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday.

As part of the separation, it noted it has successfully migrated over 700,000 MasterKey and Plum accounts, 55 systems and applications, and more than 100 terabytes of data, enabling the company to fully transition from NAB’s systems and technology.

Moreover, employees now operate entirely within Insignia Financial’s environment, servicing customers, employers, and advisers independently.

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“Separating MLC from NAB was the most important initiative we had to deliver as an organisation in FY25, and I am pleased to announce this significant separation milestone,” said Insignia’s CEO, Scott Hartley.

“Following the migration of MLC Wrap, MLC Navigator, and associated offers to the MLC Expand platform in April, this separation further demonstrates our ability to deliver complex, large-scale transformation projects. It also marks the second successful execution of a major exit of a superannuation business from a bank, the first being Insignia Financial’s separation of the pensions and investments business from ANZ in 2022,” he added.

Hartley acknowledged that while work remains to be completed before Insignia fully exits the transitional services agreement (TSA) in May 2025, reaching this milestone positions the company to streamline its Master Trust capabilities and shift its focus in FY2025–26 towards accelerated, sustainable growth, underpinned by a steadfast commitment to its customers.

“This separation will simplify and streamline processes and deliver significant cost savings with the exit of the TSA. These savings are included in the FY25 net cost reduction of $60–65 million, and in the net BAU opex reduction goal of ~$200 million over FY26–30, as announced at our recent Investor Day,” he said.

As part of Insignia Financial’s transition, the firm noted it has also moved the corporate and MLC general ledger to Workday, upgraded its infrastructure and applications, enhanced system performance and uplifted security and monitoring to make its environment safer for members.

At the same time, Insignia Financial has introduced operational improvements for technology teams to improve system and infrastructure management and transitioned some applications, including MLC’s core registry system, to the cloud.